The10th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge took place from May20-24, 2019, in Madrid, Spain. AquaNES was respresented with a number of talks and posters around cNES in relation to bank filtration and soil infiltration for groundwater recharge.

Marie was awarded for her work on intensive monitoring and characterisation of the water quality and hydrogeology at the site as to better understand mechanism and define leverage points for improving the scheme. Eventually these data fed into the development of an ICT tool for optimised operation of the site.

Activities from the AquaNES project will be highlighted in the up-coming  “Innovation in Drinking Water Treatment” event of the Swiss Association of the Gas and Water Sector (SVGW). Latest technology and legal trends in treatment, monitoring and disinfection will be discussed with practitioners.

The event was held in German with French simultaneous translation.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Grischek, AquaNES work package leader, and Prof. Dr. Chittaranjan Ray have recently edited a special issue of the journal Water. It is fully dedicated to the efficiency of bank filtration and post-treatment. All AquaNES partners working in this area have contributed to it. Find the open access publications here.

The event  will focus on the market needs and potential for natural treatment systems, in particular constructed wetlands and managed aquifer recharge, in Greece and the Mediterranean, including islands.

We will disseminate AquaNES results and experiences and translate them into the regional context, in terms of policy conditions, regulations, community needs, and local resources. We aim at developing links with relevant stakeholders from policy, research institutes, utilities, industry and consulting firms.

Importantly, market opportunities, as well as drivers and barriers for the wider implementation of natural water treatment systems will be discussed and highlighted.

Find a summary of the event here.

Robin Wünsch (FHNW) won the  Best Presentation Award at  the "Ozone and Advanced Oxidation – Solutions for Emergigng Pollutions of Concern to the Water and the Environment" conference held from 5. - 7. September 2018 in Lausanne.

Talking about  "UV/H₂O₂ before biological treatment in drinking water – effects on the removal of micropollutants and biodegradability" he shared results from almost two years  of experiments in the Lange Erlen drinking water production site.

Dr. Sylvie Baig (Head of Scientific Innovation Suez, Stategic Development Department) and Prof. Michel Roustan (Vice-President of IOA EA₃G-group) congratulated on behalf of the scientific committee of the conference.

Site visit to Rheinbach demonstration site of Erftverband. Partners of Vertech Group and the project manager went there to see the long-time running pilot plant and the progress in the construction of the full-scale retention soil filter. In the AquaNES project the system will be investigated by Life Cycle Assessment to evidence its low environmental impacts in removing micro-pollutants from WWTP effluents and CSO spills. Watch the video to learn more about the concept

The full consortium met in Budapest for its month 24 meeting, after two years of intensive work in the demonstration sites. Next to the technical progress, partners discussed ways towards a multi-criteria assessment of the interventions.

For a technical visit, Budapest Waterworks took the group out to one of their historic water reservoirs and the reverse osmosis pilot plant.

The AquaNES project team and Budapest Waterworks organised a regional stakeholder workshop on riverbank filtration on 30 May 2018. The event attracted more than 50 practioners and researchers

Participants gained insight into RBF hydraulics, water quality issues, treatment and post-treatment. Utilities reported about the rehabilitation of abstraction wells, the effect of river flow variations on operation and the challenges of planning new schemes.

The AquaNES project team exemplified the potential of various post-treatment options in coping with these issues. This also included the appeal to consider risk assessment and risk management approaches. This helps ensuring the safe operation of bankfiltration sites under a broad range of hydraulic boundary conditions.

The appointed External Expert and AquaNES work package leaders met in Basel to review the progress of the first 18 months. Part of the group also took the opportunity to visit the Lange Erlen demonstration site.

At the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Waste and Raw Material Management AquaNES exhibited at the shared booth experience.science.future B4.138/238.

IFAT experience.science.future. brings together synergies in politics, research and industry.

Project result are also presented in the framework programme in Hall B4 on Tuesday 15 May (13.30-14.00)

More info at www.ifat.de

KWB hosted a 2-day working meeting in Berlin on 18-19 October 2017. The experts exchanged about the progress in the demonstration sites of work package 3

A visit to the pilot installation at Schönerlinde WWTP illustrated the combination of effluent ozonation with subsequent treatment in constructed wetland. The combination of these processes is to improve the removal of organic micropollutants and transformation products. Technology for the pilot is provided by partners Xylem and Akut. The local water utility BWB is operating the plant with scientific support of KWB - Berlin Centre of Competence for Water.

Following WATEC Israel 2017 exhibition and conference in Tel Aviv mid of September project partners visited the site. Team members of Xylem inspected the refurbishment of the ozonator and discussed first results of the newly installed on-line probes and effectiveness of the recirculation.

The site was also show-cased to visitor groups from WATEC.

In the last month also the 1st big sampling campaign for micropollutants and microbial parameters, including viruse, was conducted.

During the Water Innovation Week in Porto from 25-29 September AquaNES will be represented in multiple ways by various consortium partners:

• Side event AG MAR Solutions, 26.09.17, 14 h: project overview and demo-sites studies presentation
• Exemplified solution presentation in the conference session “Innovations for implementing EU water legislation” , 27.09.17 at 14:15 h
• Representation on the H2020 projects booth in the exhibition
• Participation in “Boosting Research & Innovation in the Water Sector: The Impact of EU-funded actions” side event on 29.09.17

Consult the programme for more details on the event website.

The 10^th and 11^th of July 2017, the BACTcontrol system from MicroLAN company has been installed to measure E. coli and total coliforms in the treated wastewater channel of Agon-Coutainville WWTP.

The BACTcontrol detects bacteria based on their specific enzymatic activity. The reaction they catalyse releases a fluorescence dye that can be quantified photometrically. In Agon-Coutainville this measurement will survey the variations in the water quality to eventually better assess the performance of the subsequent reed bed filtration and the impact on the groundwater.

Just a week later another device was commissioned in the Lange Erlen site. It online-monitors the total bacterial activity in the inflow to the advanced oxidation stage. Measurement of samples taken manually in the downstream processes can help assessing microbial bio-degradation in the soil systems.

AquaNES partner Adam-Mickiewicz-University (AMU) hosted a two-day meeting on 22-23 June 2017 in Poznan (PL). Work package 1 partners discussed the results of the testing activities in their bank filtration demonstration sites. The group also spent a day in the field visiting the Debina and Mosina water production area and the water treatment works. Water abstracted from more than 300 wells is treated to drinking water quality. Also experts from social science and ecologists joined, to analyse on the spot the eco-system services provided by the system.